https://reverb.com/item/100745465-2003-alembic-series-ii-5-st-bass-w-preamp-03cxb12958

like i really need to be surfing rereverbb these days.
 
got the ebony lams.  5-strings. inlaid logo. omega with stinger.  can't tell for sure, but - no fret dots?  LEDs?  looks like a dozen knobs (only 10 on mine.  hmmmm...).  no comment on the price.  if ya want the best, then ya gotta shell out whatever it's gonna take.

good luck to all!

I've never spotted a serial # like this.  03CXB12958?  It's $2,600 cheaper if you go to their website.  It's 140 miles away in a state with no sales tax.  If it was a sixer, I MIGHT be packing up the car for a road trip.

It's a featured custom, from memory I'm thinking it was Big Brown Bass.

Quote from: garyhead on August 19, 2026, 03:31:24 PMI've never spotted a serial # like this.  03CXB12958?  It's $2,600 cheaper if you go to their website.  It's 140 miles away in a state with no sales tax.  If it was a sixer, I MIGHT be packing up the car for a road trip.

Custom extra longscale bass :-)

I sorta remember it. Weren't the extra controls bass and treble rotary for each pickup? Like an East-Meets-West-Meets-Series II. I dunno anymore. Too many out there. 😵�💫

The woods and the laminates look amazing. Too much knobs for me though. The stinger looks dangerous and prone to damage. But very nice build.

Pretty bass but not a fan of the stinger visually and it looks fragile, too. Bet it sounds awesome, though.

According to some, the stinger is actually much stronger than the omega tips, so it serves to protect.

The amount of force required to break that thing would have to be a really heavy impact. Like a strap failure and un-checked free-fall. In which case you're likely also fixing something more critical. I've never heard of one getting broken but it's probably happened. If one got broken off, I wouldn't even try to fix it... I'd reshape the omega and touch-up. 

Aesthetically the stinger is kinda' something you either want it or not. I can't say it appeals to my eye, but I can admire the extreme skill it takes to execute that symmetry. If it weren't done perfectly it would look positively awful. I think I could get used to it for that bass. 

This was a previous Featured Custom - it's still waiting in the incubator and only partial converted (you can peek at it here). 

I know the Stinger and even the Point looks fragile, but it's all endgrain there. You can surely chip off the paint, and dent it, but it's very strong. What is fragile are the tips of Omegas. With the Stinger, the tips have some protection, but you could still snap them off at the right angle, though I think you'd almost have to try to break these off.

Quote from: mica on August 20, 2026, 06:18:35 AMI know the Stinger and even the Point looks fragile, but it's all endgrain there. You can surely chip off the paint, and dent it, but it's very strong. What is fragile are the tips of Omegas. With the Stinger, the tips have some protection

Is this why some customers order the stinger? Just for protection? or also for optical reasons?

I also noticed that this bass has the upper body cut lower than other Sterling models/MK sig models. I have only seen them with the body cut at the 19th fret. But this one has it around the 17th/18th fret. Is there a special reason for that? Maybe better balance?

Quote from: Barend on Yesterday at 08:44:04 AMIs this why some customers order the stinger? Just for protection? or also for optical reasons?


I also noticed that this bass has the upper body cut lower than other Sterling models/MK sig models. I have only seen them with the body cut at the 19th fret. But this one has it around the 17th/18th fret. Is there a special reason for that? Maybe better balance?

I think everyone that's opted for a Stinger has done so because they liked the look. At least nobody has told me that Omega tip protection was the primary reason. 

This is a custom body shape. It is based on the Balance Point shape, which had the upper horn in the same fret position as the Big Bass, but it was a longer horn, where the Big Bass brings the horn back to the neck to look more like the length of a Standard Point body shape. 

And yes, the upper horn position was to make the balance better for a shape that was originally designed to be a medium scale 4-string.

I've always liked the stinger point. It just says "Alembic."
That....and the LEDs.  Mentioned elsewhere in the club... "oh, you're the guy with the bass that lights up."

My first Alembic sighting was 1977 at a music store in my grubby little blue-collar town. Salesman fired up the side LEDs and I was hooked!  Took me another 15 years to buy my first one.

I'm "assuming" the styling is down to the work of Susan.....as I found Rick Turners solo efforts a little "fugly."  IMHO, YMMV